Backdoor
by Namuh
Summary: A bit more headstrong Violet and what would happen if during insomnia days in Academy things would turn out differently.


Time seemed to stretch endlessly, it means it wasn't moving at all, not that you could actually spread it like elastic. Everyone sane, in good health and having slept at least five hours a day would know this. To Violet it didn't seem quite so obvious. Saying this I in no way mean that she was mad – a word witch in this case does not imply being angry, but rather being slightly out of your mind. Not literally of course, as people aren't able to exist without a brain inside their head. Rather, it signifies that someone is not able to think clearly.

Sitting in Room One, number witch really wasn't that hard to remember, Violet gazed straight ahead at empty blackboard.

Her eyes were more than a bit glazed, as she indistinctly noticed that Mr. Remora was still in the classroom. He was eating, what seemed like twelfth banana today, and was telling another dull story between the bites.

'_So pointless._'

Normally she would be disgusted at the mess in his moustache or at the sounds he made while talking during eating, but today she didn't feel strength even for lifting a pen, so getting angry seemed pointless too. And she wasn't even trying to write anything down.

A poke made her jerk a bit more awake. Violet didn't need to turn to know that it was Carmelita Spats with that irritating stick again. And it made her lose the train of her thoughts. 'If there even had been one,' she thought, feeling sleepy again. Teachers words flied around her head like water around the rock, none staying. She felt like an annoying fly was soaring through the air buzzing, buzzing, buzz…

A fly. Small chuckle left her lips. How funny.

She looked at her desk and astonishingly there was one too. Faint smile quirked her mouth before she frowned.

Flies weren't funny.

And as she looked at the table second time, it didn't seem to be a fly at all, just a black spot. She rubbed it slightly to be sure.

Sighing softly Violet thought that sleep deprivation was finally getting to her.

Deprivation meant lack, removal withdrawal of something. She knew this word well as Klaus kept using it a lot when they tiredly talked about their condition after one of 'trainings'.

Now though she was at school, if it even could be called one, and Violet knew it was important to have good marks and actually learn what was taught. But she couldn't concentrate, and, well, if she thought about it, Mr. Remora hadn't in fact taught her anything during the time she had been at academy. Except how to make short, boring stories …and they were of no use.

In fact they hadn't learned anything since their parents had died. She clenched a fist. Well, not like in school, anyway. They had learned not to eat before going to water, not to marry in play, to break hypnosis... It wasn't school material, it wasn't even normal life.

Always on their way to next guardians, to their next trouble.

Now, if they would be taught courses like "how to catch villains and keep them in jail", she would gladly agree to be taught.

Count Olaf was the only constant in their lives. And now he was their hated trainer Gengis...

Where was she? Ah, the urgent need to learn at school. Everyone knew it was very important to do so. But then again who was everyone?

Eyes closed for a little blink.

"Violet!" a shout near her ear made her jump and look around a bit wildly. Trainer Gengis?

…Oh, that was only Mr. Remora. So there was still a lot of time until next 'training' session. "Violet, what was the last sentence in the story I just told you about boy and his red bicycle?"

"The boy had a red bicycle?" Violet made an obviously incorrect guess but as she hadn't been listening at all, it wouldn't matter much anyway. And in the story about boy and his red bicycle there had to be something about that. More like 'The boy had a red bicycle. He drove on it to the town. There he bought an octopus. The end.' After all Mr. Remoras stories weren't very original. Who cared about them?

Mr. Remora looked at her with dissatisfaction before saying: "No, no, that was before the last sentence. Actually, it was the first sentence! But, it will do, for I have noticed, in the time you have been learning here, that you are the most unobservant person I have ever taught. So listen carefully everyone. Especially you, Violet, you need all the education you can get!"

And he repeated his last story.

Violet pretended to write everything down, but actually just scribbled a bit. Somehow that made her feel better, and she considered an idea that perhaps day will not be so bad at all. She just had to invent something to allow her and her siblings go to sleep, do all the homework and somehow run the course in the same time!

As bizarre thoughts of flying horses and self writing pens filled Violets head, she felt reality fading away in a very pleasant way. Who knew getting so little sleep could be so fun. Pen danced across the page and drew little pictures of possible inventions. Sun, shining through the glass windows, landed on her head and made it warm, made her feel almost content with whole world.

Unexpectedly several sharp pokes in quick succession landed on her left shoulder, causing her lovely daydreams to stop. With the next poke her dreams froze completely and shattered, landing her in the harsh world of reality. Thoughts popped up like a balloon? How stupid. But by now Violet felt awful.

"_Stupid_ cake sniffing orphan from the Orphan Shack!" Carmelita hissed with an evil pleasure from behind her. Mr. Remora wasn't even looking their way, so he didn't notice anything. And it seemed a new word had been added to that terrible sentence that had already been repeated by Carmelita every time they met.

No that wasn't end. That, that wasn't fair… She wasn't stupid; she just couldn't concentrate when she had no proper rest for a week. And Spats didn't do anything to help. Being an orphan wasn't her fault! Violet felt a twist of anger as she recalled how by this evil girls' wish Klaus and Sunnys' and her life was made even more miserable than it already was. 'I am just a messenger, so you owe me', 'this is the sixth day I give you a message, so you owe me even more…' '_Stupid_ cake sniffing orphan in the Orphan Shack!'

An angry scowl crossed her face.

Something cracked and it echoed faintly in the classroom. When Violet looked down she saw that her pen had broken and one of the sharp broken edges dug into her palm. Uncomfortably she shifted broken pieces. And Mr. Remora still self-absorbingly droned on, nobody paid real attention to her.

It seemed, she really had enough of Spats for today. No doubt one day Spats would get what she deserves.

Thoughts in Violets tired brain turned vicious as the time passed.

"One more poke and see what happens!" She murmured under her breath with a resolve that would have scared her on normal days.

Thankfully during the final five minutes to the lesson there were no more interruptions from anyone. Well, it might have been five minutes… Just as she awoke from the short sleep she had fallen into again, Mr. Remora allowed them to go away.

Violet slung her backpack a bit too forcefully over her shoulder and was the first one out of the door, not even stopping to put her things into the bag, but doing that on the way. Before the conscience ran better of her and made her change her mind, she dropped the broken pen just outside the classroom door. Of course after that she felt like picking it up immediately, because littering was bad. But somehow today this thought didn't make her change her decision, it only made her to slowly retreat the hand that wanted to pick up the pen. She stood there looking at the remains for a bit and then turned around.

Violet continued her way. Unfortunately she didn't that feel dreamful state again, just weary and frustrated while she walked briskly through the school building.

-999-

After a few minutes Violet was near Administration building, one of those ugly, grey ones, where she stood waiting for Sunny, who needed to come out of there, and for Klaus, whose lessons in Room Two must have ended. So he had to come here soon enough too.

Come to think of it, there seemed to be awfully many rooms around the buildings, considering they had only classrooms One and Two.

The first moments of waiting, after calming her own boiling thoughts, she spent thinking that Klaus must be walking slowly because of tiredness he no doubt felt. Next moment she spent worrying about how dangerous things may be for Sunny, to come down the stairs in her sleepy state. During final time of her stay near Administrative building, Violet tried not to think about anything, because it seemed as her sleep had gone away; it had been replaced by a feeling of slowly simmering anger.

It slowly boiled somewhere in the pit of her stomach. It wasn't one of her usual feelings at all. And she felt a need to do something, anything, no matter how stupid it may seem. She chased such thoughts away.

But as with all worrying thoughts, they stayed just around the corners of her mind.

Sunny and Klaus, they were important, it was her duty to make sure that nothing bad happened to Sunny. But what if she slipped on the way down? What if something happened?

Slowly, undecidedly she extended her arm to open the door to Administrative building. Doorknob was cold and metallic to touch.

"Violet, wait, what are you doing?" Klaus tired voice asked nearby.

She halted.

"Just waiting for Sunny," she smiled nervously at Klaus and removed her hand from the door handle a bit too quickly.

Klaus looked at her unbelievingly, but thankfully didn't say anything.

"I m-mean, look what a surprising metallic handle!"

-999-

"Klaus, I've been thinking, what if Sunny gets tired when she is coming down and falls down the stairs?"

"Or what if she falls asleep at her work and accidentally hurts herself? Or if- "

"No, Violet, that couldn't happen. Sunny did get some sleep before going to work. Well it was only 15 minutes, but nothing could happen, and she was alright yesterday," as Klaus continued talking, but his voice lost confidence and as he and Violet gazed at each other, his eyes began to look worried too.

"Yes, it's a big building and maybe it does have a lot of stairs, and Sunny is late, but-" Klaus stopped talking.

-999-

They barged into the office Sunny worked at. The workers who were chasing them were left about two stairways behind.

"Sunny!" Violet smiled and tried to embrace her little sister. "Are you alright?"

Snore. Sunny looked very deeply asleep.

-999-

They walked quietly into the dining hall, where they were quickly accosted by the usual noise. It was full of people who milled around in groups or alone. Two girls with pigtails talked excitedly nearby. A boy was picking up his fork that had just fallen down with a clang. At least he had one, thought Violet, looking at his fork a bit longingly. And a group of people, no doubt Spats friends, looked derisively at Baudelaires, before sniffing at them and walking past.

Violet knew that because she and Klaus had gone into Administrative building, today would be the day none of them could have spoons nor forks or knives. That was a bad thing, because obviously today was the day, that people in metal masks felt need to make only that kind of food, which was hard to eat using hands. Violet felt a ping of annoyance as she saw a ladle of chicken soup poured in her dish and as she caught Klaus expression, it took no genius to see that he was also displeased.

And for some strange reason she thought she had caught a muffled chuckles from metal masked woman that was putting food in her dish. But as Violet sharply turned her head at woman, she saw nothing out of ordinary.

At least they could still drink tea like all normal people did.

"Well, we can slurp the soup down," Klaus offered them unsure smile.

Violet just stared. But Sunny seemed to like the idea. "Krebab!" This probably meant 'I love slurping!'

Duncan and Isadora for some reason weren't here yet and their soup was getting cold. It would do no good to waste normal food; they needed all the strength they could get for nightly runs.

So they started to slurp soup unenthusiastically. Except little Sunny, she seemed to enjoy it and amazingly enough had already eaten half of the soup.

When they had eaten almost all the food, or splashed around in some cases. Violet looked a bit disapprovingly at Sunny, who had gotten bored with slurping and decided she had better idea what to do with tea.

"Merus," Sunny replied her look seriously, that probably meant, 'But tea is yucky'.

Violet sighed and let the matter go. Quarreling over tea wasn't going to help, she was just happy they were all alright and together. Seeing her sister understood her animosity with tea, Sunny let some more tea trickle on the ground and smiled widely at Violet.

That was when the horribly familiar voice called to them over the faint dim of voices.

"Cakesniffers! I have got a new message for you!" Carmelita said loudly, coming closer to them, wearing a pleased expression. "I am the best messenger in the whole school and I still take messages to you too, you should be honored! And pay me even more, since I'm special."

"Spats. How nice to see you. We were just wondering why weren't you here yet," Klaus pronounced stiffly. They all prepared to hear her bad news and Carmelita's unreasonable demands for being a messenger.

"I can't be only your messenger, cakesniffer, I'm busy," Carmelita said with glee. She stepped even closer to their table, so she could shout her message in their faces. "Principal Nero said, you should- What is this I'm standing in!"

Suddenly she looked horrified at the puddle of tea that was soaking her feet. Sunny, realizing that a tense situation could happen helpfully took her cup and threw it down, splashing Carmelita's socks even more and breaking cup in two parts, before pretending it wasn't her and she didn't have anything to do with any tea puddles or teacups.

"You ruined my shoes!" she shouted with a hint of disbelief that something like this could have happened to her. Sunny glared at her, unhappy her sneaky act had been noticed.

"I'm going to tell principal Nero and you will have to pay for them. Now you owe me even more for messages and for a pair of new pretty shoes!" and Carmelita's voice regained back some balance.

Sunny started eyeing her empty soup dish contemplating. It wouldn't splash anything since it wasn't full, but maybe it would land on Carmelita's toes.

It seemed Carmelita noticed her look. She finished her visit with fast "Now you me even more," speech but her voice sounded a bit more stressed than usual at the end. And she walked away a bit too quickly, leaving a few wet footprints.

Children looked at each other. They had won this fight with Carmelita. But it seemed their troubles weren't over at this school, they just got into new ones. Whatever were they supposed to do?

Violet had pursued her lips and made a decision. "We need to call Mr. Poe and tell him everything. He's our guardian, he's supposed to help us," they were going to get access to telephone and have a long talk with Mr. Poe.

-999-

"Hello? Mr. Poe, is that you?" Violet was determined to see this conversation got finished. They hadn't sneaked into an administrative building second time this day to just give up.

"No, this is Mrs. Hodson, a secretary, Mr. Poe is busy, he is in a meeting," came a cultured though stiff voice.

"Hello, this is Violet Boudelaire, Mr. Poe is our temporary guardian. Could you please tell Mr. Poe we called, when he gets back?" Violet asked politely, hoping for the best.

"No, dear. This is a long meeting and my work ends soon. And today is the last day before my six month holidays start, after 10 year work with no holidays even on weekends," the voice said a bit more warmly if distractedly and added "But I can tell him when I get back."

"Perhaps you can leave a note?"

"No, that would be terrible! We are not allowed to leave any notes around. They can fall on papers and make people unable to read places under the notes. Just last year a secretary was found with a small note her brother had written and put in her pocket. Groceries, how dare he! And she was fired and can never work again in such a respectable firm!"

"But you can lift notes to see under them and why would you care about a note in the pocket, no one puts papers there," Violet couldn't understand the reasoning.

"So rude children!" Violet could hear terrible affront in Mrs. Hodsons voice. "Why I heard that you so often change guardians and now I can see why. No, I am not even going to leave a message for you. Why I ought to make sure you can never work at our firm too, not even apply for a job! Ignoring the most important rules!"

But the she stopped talking to Violet and started to talk to someone in the room. Violet only heard a sharp: "Your rude children called," and clacking of someone walking away quickly.

"Mr. Poe! Is that you?"

"Now, now children what did you want to say? And I wonder whatever happened to Elsa, no reason to turn so unreasonable just because she gets a vocation," he said disapprovingly, though Violet thought she heard some wistful notes in his voice, when Mr. Poe mentioned vocation.

"Mr. Poe, Count Olaf is in the school, he is pretending to be trainer Ghengis, our teacher. He makes us run every single night! And during day we have lessons! We are tired!"

"Well, surely that can't be true. Remember children, principal Nero he has a Computer! I am assured that it would catch count Olaf if he was near."

"But then, if that is not Count Olaf, why do we have to run during nights? We feel awfully tired in the morning and can't concentrate on the lessons. And Sunny can't work, because she falls asleep!" Violet practically shouted the last sentence.

"Children, children, I'm sure it's for better education. Principal Nero seemed such a good person; he just wants you to succeed in life. You must know that education is very important." Mr. Poe replied in what he thought was his best soothing voice, but he only managed to sound condescending. And he coughed a lot at the end of each sentence.

"We don't want to continue to run at nights. Nights are for sleep!" as if she wasn't the one talking, Violet heard that her voice was sounding strangely shrill.

"This is your last chance at such a good school. Wait five more years and if you learn well, you could even get jobs at some good place, maybe even here. I could give you some advice - here we have a strict rule of not leaving notes. I'm sure it will help you tremendously." Mr. Poe sounded like he just solved all their problems and probably waited for they thankfulness. But Violet wasn't in the mood for that.

"No, we need sleep today!" said Violet and with strange determination, clicked phone shut.

Klaus and Sunny looked at her worried. They hadn't often seen their sister so irritable.

-999-

"Violet, I'm not sure about this…" Klaus said while they moved away from orphan hut, his hands full with their belongings and some bed sheets. Sunny crawled along, trying to get onto sheets and get some more sleep.

"Sunny, no, it's too heavy," Klaus said wearily, but still smiled when Sunny blinked at him and just went back to sleep. Violet took her and carried slowly.

"No, it's for the best Klaus, I want to sleep, Sunny wants and certainly you do too."

"Yes, but if we don't come it will be even worse after we get found. You know principal doesn't like us at all, he will just make us pay him the candies and we will have to watch as he eats."

"Yes… But Klaus, we don't have to come back."

Klaus looked at her doubtfully, but was too tired to argue back.

Violet had suspected for some time that there was too much free space around all those buildings, and this was as good time as any to investigate. 'Third time's a charm,' she thought before they broke in administrative building third time this day.

They choose one the lowest but longest buildings, because it had doors near big unkempt bushes, so it would be easy to sneak in.

It was late and it seemed everyone had gone home. It was surprising that doors had been unlocked. But maybe they never locked administrative buildings.

Inside was dark but they didn't dare to make a light. So their sneaking was time from time interrupted by someone falling down, stumbling in badly placed bed sheets and making others fall too.

But soon they were on the stairs up and Klaus checked doors on the second floor, while Violet carried the bed sheets because Klaus had gotten tired.

Strangely enough, first floor had been open, but here most doors were closed and so far open doors had led to one broom closet, two toilets and seven open offices.

But those didn't seem safe enough. So they walked further, and in the next room they saw a creaky stairway that lead even further up. It went up nine steps and then there was a wooden door in their way. As Klaus checked door handle, it opened easy.

As their eyes got used to gloomy darkness, they found dusty, but spacy attic. They decided that it would do. They closed the door and went in a bit further before letting bed sheets fall and tangle. Finally they would get a good night's sleep.

-999-

Sun fell through the crack on three sleeping children and they began to wake up. Violet felt great, like she hadn't felt for ages. And no sight of those annoying crabs around the attic.

Sunny was already up and playing with a dust bunny. When their eyes met Sunny said "Muai!" and graced her with a wide, happy smile.

"Maybe it's wasn't a bad idea" Klaus said optimistically from the left. And as Violet turned her head around she saw Klaus seemed content.

Then a thought entered her head and she said it out loud "How are we going to get food? I didn't think about that yesterday," she added with a bit guilty look at her siblings.

"Since I have had good night sleep, my head can think clearly and I have a plan, Violet, so don't worry," Klaus said smiling.

Then he turned toward their smallest sister and asked "Sunny, do you like bushes?"

Sunny laughed and after they had sneaked outside the attic and hidden behind some bushes, she had helped to put the twigs into her hair.

-999-

"Toot!" Sunny signaled gleefully from near dining halls backdoor, looking like a small and a bit wrecked bush with a lot of broken twigs. She had laughed and had been very helpful when they had put the twigs into her hair.

Violet and Klaus silently crept into the dining halls backdoor, while Sunny kept vigil.


End file.
